Singling out Israel...

[Violet_Crumble]

by Mitchell Plitnick
January 14, 2004


The Executive Commission of the European Union recently conducted an opinion poll of member states asking respondents to indicate which of 14 countries they believe is "a threat to world peace." Slightly over half - 52 percent - said Iraq was a threat. Fifty-three percent cited Iran, North Korea and the United States. And 59 percent, the highest percentage, said Israel.

In many circles, the results of the survey were seen as evidence of rising anti-Semitism in Europe. But, that debate aside, it also raises another question that activists working on peace in the Middle East hear all the time: "Why do so many people single out Israel, when there are so many other issues in the world?"


<snip>


Through all of this, Israel and its supporters have never sought to lessen Israel's public exposure. On the contrary, there has only been an increased attempt to garner more and better publicity. No doubt, there are those who highlight Israel's aggression more than others' because they are committed to doing harm to Jews. But as we can see, there are far more obvious and clear answers as to why Israel is paid so much more attention than anti-Semitism.

Yet this does have some major pitfalls for those of us engaged in this work. There remains a great deal to do in shifting public opinion on the Israel-Palestine conflict. We serve ourselves ill if we paint a picture lacking perspective. For 25 years, Indonesia occupied East Timor, wiping out over one-third of the Timorese population, while the world stood silent. Morocco's ongoing occupation of Western Sahara has seen 80% of the native population of that region transferred and living in squalid refugee camps, mostly in Algeria. Again, the world has stood silent. Crimes against humanity abound in this world. The ongoing, and utterly pointless, American embargo against Cuba, China's continuing occupation of Tibet, violent conflicts in the former Soviet Union, Turkish projects to wipe out Kurds and Kurdish culture, and the potential nuclear confrontation between Pakistan and India are all threats to "world peace" just as grave as anything happening in Israel/Palestine. The entire continent of Africa, still embroiled in post-colonial conflict and ravaged by AIDS while America prevents affordable drugs from going to that continent is a crime of mass murder by any standard. The destruction of Afghanistan, first by America's allies, the Taliban, and later by America itself when it tired of its allies; the destruction of Iraq, first by war, then by sanctions and then by occupation; major upheavals in Central and South America, with the clear involvement of the United States; there are many other areas of conflict and crime in the world. Ongoing American efforts to stifle global environmental laws, as well as continuing floods of small arms into war-torn areas are equally criminal. It would be a much better world for all of us if the suffering of the Palestinians were unique. Sadly, it is not.

There is no doubt that the brazen aggression of the Sharon government has cast a greater spotlight on Israeli crimes against the Palestinians. There is no doubt that Israeli aggression during the current intifada has increased instability all around the world. There is good reason to focus specifically on the Middle East and the Israel-Palestine conflict as a fulcrum for much of what is happening in the world. And the suffering of the Palestinians is severe. But let us not forget that the Israeli occupation happens in the context of a political world rife with suffering, with violence and with war. Let us not, in our eagerness to express the gravity of the situation in Israel-Palestine, place that conflict outside of its perspective. To do so undermines our efforts and only aids those who work to prolong the occupation and prevent any justice from coming to the Palestinians.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=22&ItemID=4838

[drewb]

1. Wonderful news...

:yourock:

:loveya:

:dem:

[Jackie97]

2. Why should Israel be singled out?

Seriously, people say that they cause instability all around the world? How?

Is Israel causing the US to attack the ME countries? No, the US would attack those countries anyway for their resources.

Did Israel make the US go crazy in the Cold War by killing people and putting dictators into countries? No.

While Israel might have helped to play a big brother role in much of the instability brought on by the US, it's still brought on by the US. We simply don't need Israel to make the world unstable.

I personally think it's horrible to single Israel out like this, simply because many of the same people won't single the US out for the same thing and worse. To many people, Israel is considered to be worse than the US for some reason.

I also think it's horrible to single out Israel because it hurts our cause. It's one thing to devote oneself entirely to one cause because it's important to oneself. It's another matter entirely to claim that Israel is the root of all evil, when they're in no way unique.

If we want to draw support for the pro-Palestinian cause, we need to focus on the idea of not singling out Israel for good or bad criticism. The main reason that I became pro-Palestinian is because I realized that if any country other than Israel was acting like this (including my own), I would highly object. So now, my motto is stuff like "No favortism for Israel". I'm actually starting to get an attitude towards those who think that I should favor Israel. Likewise, I don't think it's good to act like Israel is the root of all evil either. They're not unique. Heck, they're not even the Superpower. Give it time, and they probably won't be friends with the Superpower either (because we do tend to betray our friends sooner or later).

[bemildred]

3. You are making way too much sense.

Neither the Jews or the Arabs are going to go away;
neither the Jews or the Arabs are going to be pushed into
the sea, or into Jordan, or wherever; so if they want peace
they are going to have to deal with each other with respect
and as equals.

[Comadreja]

4. Obviously you underestimate

the righteous dtermination of the RW Israelis:

"We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves." Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, October 1983.

"We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, 'What is to be done with the Palestinian population; Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out!'? Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979; Rabin's description of the conquest of Lydda, after the completion of Plan Dalet.

[bemildred]

5. Not at all. I just don't think they are up to the job.

And I don't mean by that that they are not willing to take a
good whack at it and spill a barrel or two of blood. It's
been a good deal of time since 1948, or since 1967 if you
prefer, and the Palestinians are still there and there are
more all the time. If they could have got rid of them, they
would have by now. People understimate the difficulty or
disposing of a few million humans who don't feel like being
disposed of, and it is not correct that the Israeli polity
would just stand by if they attempted it on the necessary level
of ruthlessness and efficiency.

[Jackie97]

6. Yes, but consider this....

Israel's law discriminating against those who married an Arab outside of Israel's official boarders got the majority of Israel and Zionists in general in an uproar. Don't you think that the idea of ethnically cleansing the Palestinians might do the same thing?

In any case, do you really think that the more extreme Palestinians are innocent? Heck no. Read the Hamas oath sometime. It claims that Jews were respsible for WWI. Some Palestinians claim that there was no holocaust. Eygpt is trying to push the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" onto its citizens. Some probably do support killing all of the Jews since these are the ideas that led to the holocaust (with the exception of holocaust denial, which is preached by Nazis today).

My point is that just because a few isolated people say something, doesn't mean that they'll get the majority to back them on it.